Brain and Muscle in a Science Class

MANY students still think that IPA or Natural Science as the subject which requires a lot of memorizing. This is not true, of course, and has bothered Ibu Atit Djuwita an IPA SMPN 4 Tarkit Garut a great deal. The tendency of students to memorize the material in Science classes makes it easy for them to forget it. Ibu Atit Djuwita has tried to move away from the habit of memorizing material by combining intellectual activities with physical activities. Here is her experience.

INTELLECTUAL learning focuses on how to solve problems and think critically. The intellectual aspect in learning can be sharpened when students are directly involved in solving the problems, creating new ideas, developing plans, seeking for information and asking questions. Lessons involving physical activities are usually practical work or experiments. Physical activities, if properly implemented, can help students understand information by associating movements with facts. Learning by engaging in physical activity requires effort that can stimulate students to engage their bodies in learning. This can be done by creating a learning environment that makes them get physically active.

For learning activities, I developed a lesson plan and worksheet, taking the topic of ' Muscles as a Tools for Motion '. In the introductory activities, the students' response was very good. Many of them had experienced cramps when playing sports. The students' enthusiasm was aroused, which is a good start. They began to use intellectual activity when each group was working on the worksheet. Each group was on average able to answer the questions properly.

When they exercised to demonstrate how antagonist (opposing) muscles work, the members of the group worked well together. After completing the worksheet, representatives of each group came to the front of the class to make a presentation. Each group was represented by two people for the presentations, where they had to explain the results of their discussions and demonstrate how antagonist muscles work (worksheet question no. 3). To answer questions 2 and 4 little help was needed. The students maintained their enthusiasm right until the end of the lesson. During the lesson I found some groups who had difficulty understanding the question 3 on the worksheet.

The instructions may be not clear enough, students were confused how to pair the muscles. But, if the question is made too easy, it would not be a high level question. Maybe students still need time to learn higher level thinking. Writing their reflections at the end of the lesson, students claimed to understand the subject matter. I myself feel the need to keep creating learning activities that involve physical activity. This style of learning can also be used in other science topics.

Students Reflections Improve Teaching
MTsN Jatibarang, Indramayu

The principal of MTsN Jatibarang, Indramayu, is implementing a new policy which requires students to write their comments at the end of each lesson. This kind of reflection acts as feedback for teachers to improve their lessons. Based on the feedback from the students, teachers can improve their teaching. The two pictures on the right show the students writing their feedback and an example of a student's reflection from MTsN Jatibarang.